Sunday, September 23, 2007

But my sources told me that Google has long considered becoming part owner of undersea cables, not as part of some new telecom venture, but rather because it needs the bandwidth to move massive amounts of digital information between its data centers around the world. The company already leases capacity in underwater cables, and owning some of the cables outright might prove cheaper than paying rents.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has long described the company’s collection of massive data centers around the world as the world’s largest supercomputer. If Google joins the Unity project, it will simply be adding a vital communications link to make sure that its supercomputer, and all the Web pages, videos and applications it delivers to millions of users around the world, is equally responsive in Asia as it is on this side of the Pacific.